Five Ways Sales Input Transforms Marketing Planning

By Amy Evans

In the building products world, where specifications are slow to change, sales cycles are long, and economic conditions shift quickly, the most effective marketing plans are the ones shaped by both sales and marketing—not sequentially, but collaboratively.

In fact, studies show companies lose more than 10% of annual revenue due to misalignment between these teams.¹

In most cases, the gap is not a lack of talent. It’s a lack of shared planning.

Here are five ways strategic planning works better when sales and marketing build it together:

1. Sales brings field intelligence not found anywhere else.

Marketing owns research, segmentation, and long-term category insight. But sales uncovers the truths customers rarely share in surveys or dashboards. They’re the first to hear:  

• Emerging objections from builders and specifiers.
• Shifts in distributor sentiment.
• Labor and logistics challenges that influence buying decisions.
• Product lines are losing traction due to cost fluctuations.
• Which messages resonate or fall flat in real conversations.

In a slow-moving industry, this becomes your early-warning system. AI can identify patterns, but sales provide context.

2. Shared KPIs prevent misfires and revenue drag.

Sales and marketing often aim for the same destination while operating on different scorecards. Marketing focuses on awareness and engagement, while sales focuses on pipeline velocity and closed revenue. When KPIs aren’t created together, misalignment compounds:

• Campaigns emphasize one story, while sales emphasize another.
• High-intent leads fall through gaps in the process, leaving marketing to report activity rather than provable revenue impact.

Sales involvement early in the planning process ensures the plan defines mutual success, rather than parallel efforts.

3. Messaging strengthens when sales input shapes it early.

Building products brands speak to many audiences at once, including distributors, dealers, installers, architects, homeowners, and influencers. Sales understands what each group cares about most:

• Contractors focus on labor savings.
• Distributors look at margins and merchandising.
• Homeowners respond to aesthetics and long-term value.

When sales contributes to messaging upstream, marketing avoids creating confusion in the channel. Handoffs become smoother, and sell-through accelerates. The result is messaging grounded in real buyer behavior—not assumptions.

4. Funnel performance improves.

The go-to-market process works best when marketing prepares the market, sales advances opportunities, and channel partners deliver on the promise. When these steps are not coordinated early, performance will slow.

Sales helps marketing understand:

• Where leads tend to stall.
• What tools accelerate evaluation.
• Which content improves conversion.
• What downstream considerations need to be accounted for at the planning stage.

Planning together turns funnel transitions into a single cohesive system, rather than disconnected touchpoints.

5. Shared insight builds a stronger, more credible strategy.

Beyond the tactical benefits, sales involvement strengthens overall strategy. When sales and marketing shape the plan together, the organization gains:

• A unified view of the customer.
• More consistent decision-making across channels.
• Timing that reflects field reality.
• Stronger confidence from leadership.

Marketing earns a more authoritative voice because the plan reflects cross-functional truth, rather than departmental assumptions.

Ready to align your planning for impact?

Co-planning with sales isn’t a courtesy; it’s a competitive advantage. Regular working sessions, shared dashboards, common KPI frameworks, and open channels for field insight transform planning from a departmental exercise into a business strategy.

Alignment is a choice. When sales and marketing make that choice together, the results are clear:

• Faster cycles.
• Stronger messaging.
• Better ROI.
• Healthier growth.

If you’re ready to bring sales and marketing together to build smarter and more connected plans, Miller Brooks can help. Let’s start the conversation.